In Johannesburg Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #62)

of racial discrimination. I had met a few Indian students at Fort Hare but they all stayed in a different hostel and I hardly had any contact with them. At Witswatersrand I met Ismail Meer, J.N. Singh, Ahmed Bhoola, ... Vahed, Ramlal Bhoolia, to all of whom I became friendly. We studied and starved at Flat 13, Kholvad House together with Ismail and J.N. This flat is in the centre of the city and has become famous in the liberation movement and to the South African police as the place where freedom fighters from all population groups frequently relax. It was also at Wits that I met Joe Slovo, Ruth First and Tony O'Dowd and Harold Wolpe all of whom were members of the Communist Party. I also met George Bizos and the late Sarel Tighy, who became a member of parliament for the United Party. For a brief period Seretse Khama joined the Law Faculty and the number of Africans in the faculty increased from one to two. Bram Fisher and Rex Welsh were amongst our part time lecturers. These contacts stressed not only the cosmopolitan charcter of the city in which we lived but also that differences in colour and historical background are not necessarily a bar to a common outlook, common beliefs and common ideals. The presence of black students in the English universities of Cape Town, Rhodes and Wits has always been a source of concern to the Nationalist Party government. (2) The Nationalist Party is a white political party that preaches apartheid. It is the ruling party since 1948.